It is interesting to reflect and ask oneself why did the Templers come to Bayswater in 1946/47? It was probably the first “concentration” of Templers at one location in Australia and today is still the core of the Templer Community in Australia, notwithstanding the Temple Society Australia (TSA) Office being in Bentleigh.

The numbers of Templers living in the vicinity of Bayswater together with its aged care facilities, hall, bowling alley, tennis courts, chapel, village and importantly the substantial land parcel on which all this is located, makes it the focal point of TSA activities and its community.>>> Read more

How did this come about?It had its genesis in the latter years of internment at Tatura when after the war was over the internees were seeking to be released and start their lives again in a new country.

In Palestine war amongst Arabs, Jews and the British was raging and Britain was unable to find a practical resolution. Britain referred the problem to the United Nations, who on 29 November 1947 voted to partition Palestine.

The Templer internees in 1946 had been advised that they would not be permitted to return to Palestine, still a British mandate territory at that time (the State of Israel was founded in 1948); nor to start communities/settlements similar to those they had left. If they wished to remain in Australia then they would have to integrate and assimilate with the wider Australian community. It was also recommended that the released internees take out Australian Citizenship as soon as practicable.

In 1945 and 1946 after return to Palestine had been ruled out the Australian Government appointed an ex-Supreme Court Justice of Tasmania, Mr Justice Hutchings, to interview all adult internees and assess their suitability for settlement in Australia if they wished to do so.

During the interviews in mid-1946, which in some cases covered a wide range of issues and past activities, the adult internees in camp were asked along these lines ‘Do you want to stay in Australia?, ‘You know you cannot go back to Palestine, and it is a case of Australia or Germany.’, ‘What do you want to do, do you want to stay in Australia?’

Some of the internees gave direct answers and others were more ambivalent and wanted time to consider their future. It is interesting to note that a large number indicated ‘I wish to go with the Temple Society’, ’I wish to stay with the Temple Society’. This clearly reflects the uncertainty persons were facing and that the Templer Community’s ”togetherness” and leadership was a shield/ safety net that they looked to on their release.

As well as the interview process each adult internee had to undergo a medical examination to determine their health. Some internees “failed” this and were not “medically fit” enough to be allowed to stay.

Release from camp was possible if the internee and their family had employment and a place to live, that is, they had to show a capacity to be able to fend for themselves and not become a burden nor need the support of the Australian Government.

The "Rudolf Auer" factorRudolf Auer, an Austrian and non-Templer, had been deported, with the Templers and other Germans, from Palestine with his family in 1941 and interned in Tatura for the whole war. Lily Auer, Rudolf’s wife, was Jewish. Through the Bruckner family, who lived in East St Kilda and who were friends of Mrs Auer, Rudolf Auer was able to be released from camp in August 1946 and obtain work with Theodore Lapin the owner of a poultry farm in Bayswater.

On 5 November 1946 Mr Lapin wrote the following letter to Mr Temby at the Victoria Barracks.

Dear Sir,I am the proprietor of the Sunbeam Poultry Farm, at Bayswater, which is a large farm, at present in two separate farms and containing 10,000 fowls.In order to maintain production, overcome labour shortages, and make the farm one of the best in the state, with every modern and scientific improvement, it is necessary for me to transfer all the pens, buildings etc., on to the home property. Messrs. Clark and King, who are experts on all poultry farm matters, have been trying, unsuccessfully, for the past two months to obtain labour for the work, which they will supervise. The matter is an urgent one as the young stock of 7,000 pullets coming on, require accommodation.Mr. Auer, who for 7 years was a civilian internee, at the Tatura Camp, is in my employ at the farm. He has suggested that I may be able to procure the necessary labour, from the Tatura Camp. My requirements would be:- one foreman, 4 carpenters, 4 labourers, 1 plumber and one girl to assist Mrs Auer with the necessary cooking and housework.The men would live in the house with Mr. And Mrs. Auer and the work would last about five months.There are several aspects in my employing such labour, which I would like to place before you.I am a naturalised British subject of Jewish nationality and would submit to you the necessity of having men who would be amicable to me and would also fit in well with Mr. and Mrs. Auer in their living quarters. There is also the question of trade unions to be considered. As you will understand I do not desire any friction in the district.May I suggest to you, that Mr Auer, after his seven years association with the men in Tatura, would know the men most likely to work amicably, taking all the above conditions into consideration, and that he may be given permission to go Tatura to select the men.Your early help and advice, with regard to this matter, would be very much appreciated by me.Yours faithfully(Sgd T. Lapin)

On the 8th November 1946 Mr Lapin was advised as follows:-

Dear Sir,I have arranged for Mr. Auer to visit Rushworth Camp, in accordance with the request you made in your letter of 5th November, and hope that he has been able to arrange satisfactorily for this labour you require.Yours faithfullySecretary,Overseas Internees Investigation Commission

I consider these letters to be the key as to why a group of Templer internees from Tatura came to Bayswater and settled there, eventually encouraging other Templer families to also come and live in Bayswater. Mr Auer did return to the Tatura Camp in November 1946 to recruit the necessary labour required for the poultry farm. He offered the invited internees employment and some accommodation. He assured them of the available work and spoke enthusiastically about Bayswater’s location – especially the sight of the blue Dandenongs; none of the internees had seen mountains (hills) during their long years of internment! His offers were gratefully accepted by the internees wanting to get out from camp to start a new life in a strange unknown environment.

An Interesting aside was the requirement by the Commonwealth Government for all released internees to pay their travel fares from Melbourne to their destination.

The Early Templer families in BayswaterOn 19 November 1946 the Ewald Glenk family was the first Templer family to come to Bayswater. They lived not far from the “new poultry farm” where Mr Auer had arranged two rooms in an old house which had to be shared with another family. Within weeks they were followed by the Waldemar Sawatzky, Abram Dyck, Karl Wied, Ludwig Ehnis, Roland Frank, Kurt Frank families and Kurt Beilharz. In some cases the men of the families arrived first before being joined by their families. The men were accommodated in a large ex-army marquee which had been erected in the backyard of the large house on the corner of Pine and Myrtle Streets. Lily Auer and Nelly Wied cooked for the men until accommodation was found for their families. Several families initially shared living in the large house which eventually became Roland Frank’s family home.

The late Fred Sawatkzy provides a wonderful personal insight of that time:- ‘I came to Bayswater in 1946 […]our family was released when I was 13 years of age. I will never forget that day. It was 29 November 1946, and I had to leave my friends behind in those shiny metal army huts.[…] They were my “home” for many, many years. The heart was heavy and yet there were exciting times ahead in this new yet so far unknown “outside” world.

The “outside” world was new and beautiful! Even the sleepy, quiet town of Bayswater was heaven on earth. […] Most of the families lived in a huge house on the corner of Pine/Myrtle Streets, Bayswater. Employment was offered to the families on a poultry farm.(Extract from Hodgkin, E – February 2002,The Fruits of Bayswater/Wantirna)

The main task for the men was to demolish a small, old poultry farm built on the slope on the corner of Myrtle and Pine Streets and to build a modern poultry farm in Mountain Highway, where Eliza Close, Bayswater is today. The land was just open paddocks surrounded by orchards and market gardens. The men did the construction work – digging foundations, drains and laying water pipes, building the chicken coops and sheds; whilst others were employed looking after the actual running of the farm and its thousands of chickens and laying hens.

It was not long before the new Sunbeam Poultry Farm was built, the poultry stock moved and all operations consolidated at the new location. It was a major enterprise in Bayswater in those days and was one of the prime white leg-horn chicken farms in Victoria. Abram Dyck became its first manager. The farm continued to provide employment for Templer families for many years including new arrivals from overseas in the early 1950s.

The German Templers where the first post-WW ll “new Australians” in the district and quickly had to adapt to the Australian way of life. In the late 1940s and early 1950s when some of the orchard/market gardens in the Myrtle Street, Orange Grove, Elm Street areas were subdivided a number of other Templer families bought building blocks and built homes in Bayswater. Thus this concentration of Templers gave rise to the Bayswater Templer Community.

Thank you for tis information We lived in High Street and the chooks would come into our backyard. Ian and my cousins would go out and shoot them with their Pop guns. My Pa would often visit and take the cleaned birds home. I remember the Auers as I used to play with Liselot until she went of to High School. My mother Mrs. Grace Spicer worked at Sunbeam and Home Pride for many years, and then my Nephew Barry Spicer, Ian's oldest son. I think Bayswater was very lucky to have the Templer community growing up there Marian Spicer